Turkey’s Toscelik reaches 50% capacity at Osmaniye ERW pipe plant

Monday, 08 October 2012 17:52:14 (GMT+3)
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During his presentation at the SteelOrbis Market Talks Meeting held in Antakya on October 5, Bulent Saygılı, executive committee member of Turkey-based steelmaker Toscelik, informed the participants about Toscelik's ongoing investments.

Mr. Saygılı stated that Toscelik's ERW plant located in Osmaniye in southern Turkey, commissioned in 2012, has reached 50 percent capacity, underlining that it is the biggest pipe plant to be established in Turkey in a single phase of investment. He said that new special grades have been added in oil, drilling pipe and casing production, adding that Toscelik has a significant advantage since it produces custom-made products based on projects.

Saygılı also noted that the galvanized pipe production facility of Tosçelik Profil ve Sac Endüstrisi with an annual capacity of 2 million mt of pipes has added new lines and gauges and that these new lines will start production within the current month. Once the new lines are commissioned, beams and hollow sections will also be galvanized.

The Toscelik official said that Tosyalı Demir ve Çelik Sanayi, another Tosyalı Holding company, will increase its annual capacity from 500,000 mt to 2 million mt, stating that the technologies to be used have been chosen and work on the expansion will start soon.

He went on to say that Tosyalı Toyo Çelik, a joint venture between Tosçelik and Japan's Toyo Kohan, will produce high quality flat steel with an annual capacity of 2.6 million mt. Toscelik's rebar production facility in Algeria, the biggest private sector investment in the country, established with an investment of $750 million, will start production in 2013.

Regarding short- and long-term market expectations, Mr. Saygılı underscored that growth is continuing in the US, EU and the Middle East and that global economic growth is keeping the commodity markets alive. He pointed out that, across the world, growth in steel consumption is twice the growth in economies, while the ratio is 2.5 times in Turkey.

Saygılı underlined that the lower interest rates of the US FED and the European Central Bank and money injections will support commodity prices, while the extra money in the market will be transformed into commodities and then into investments. Given the difficulty of scrap collecting in winter and contraction in scrap availability, Saygılı expects scrap prices to maintain their current levels.